The term carp is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized quarries and are valued as both food and ornamental fish in many parts of the Old World, they are generally considered useless trash fish and invasive pests in many parts of Africa, Australia and most of the United States.
The Eurasian carp or European carp, widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia. The native wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but the species has also been domesticated and introduced into environments worldwide, and is often considered a destructive invasive species, being included in the list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. It gives its name to the carp family, Cyprinidae.
Paddlefish are a family of ray-finned fish belonging to order Acipenseriformes, and one of two living groups of the order alongside sturgeons (Acipenseridae). They are distinguished from other fish by their elongated rostra, which are thought to enhance electroreception to detect prey. Paddlefish have been referred to as "primitive fish" because the Acipenseriformes are among the earliest diverging lineages of ray-finned fish, having diverged from all other living groups over 300 million years ago. Paddlefish are almost exclusively North American and Chinese, both extant and in the fossil record.
The northern snakehead is a species of snakehead fish native to temperate East Asia, in China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea. Their natural range goes from the Amur River watershed in Siberia and Manchuria down to Hainan. It is an important food fish and one of the most cultivated in its native region, with an estimated 500 tons produced every year in China and Korea alone. Due to this, the northern snakehead has been exported throughout the world and has managed to establish non-native populations in Central Asia and North America.
Siniperca chuatsi, the mandarin fish, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Sinipercidae, the Oriental perches. It is the type species of the genus Siniperca.
The black carp or Chinese black roach is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish and the sole extant species of the genus Mylopharyngodon. It is native to lakes and rivers in East Asia, ranging from the Amur Basin across China to Vietnam. One of the largest cyprinids in the world, the black carp has a typical length of 60–120 cm (23.5–47 in), though it can reach up to 1.9 m in length and 109 kg (240 lb) in weight. It is carnivorous and generally feeds on invertebrates such as snails, clams and mussels.
The grass carp is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian border. This Asian carp is the only species of the genus Ctenopharyngodon.
The snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to parts of Africa and Asia. These elongated, predatory fish are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. They breathe air with gills, which allows them to migrate short distances over land. They have suprabranchial organs, which are primitive forms of labyrinth organs, that develop when they grow older. The two extant genera are Channa in Asia and Parachanna in Africa, consisting of more than 50 species.
Barbels are group of small carp-like freshwater fish, almost all of the genus Barbus. They are usually found in gravel and rocky-bottomed slow-flowing waters with high dissolved oxygen content. A typical adult barbel can range from 25 to 100 cm in length and weigh between 200 g and 10 kg, although weights of 200 g are more common. Babies weigh 100–150 g.
The Chinese high-fin banded shark is a popular freshwater aquarium fish that belongs to the family Catostomidae. It grows to about 1.35 m long and is unsuitable for most home aquariums.
The Chinese sleeper, also known as the Amur sleeper, is a species of freshwater sleeper native to the Amur River basin in eastern Asia with introduced populations in other regions of Eurasia. It is currently the only known member of its genus.
The stone moroko, also known as the topmouth gudgeon, is a fish belonging to the Cyprinid family, native to Asia, but introduced and now considered an invasive species in Europe and North America. The fish's size is rarely above 8 cm and usually 2 to 7.5 cm long.
Lenoks, otherwise known as Asiatic trout or Manchurian trout, are salmonid fish of the genus Brachymystax, native to rivers and lakes in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, wider Siberia, Northern China and Korea.
The Mongolian redfin is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Chanodichthys. This East Asian freshwater cyprinid is found in China, Russia and Mongolia where it ranges from the Amur River south to the Yangtze and inland to Lake Buir and Kherlen River. There are also records from the Red River in Vietnam that probably are this species. It reaches 1 m in length and 4 kg (8.8 lb) in weight.
Acheilognathus macropterus is a species of cyprinid fish native to China and northern Vietnam. It grows to a length of 27.5 centimetres (10.8 in) SL.
The golden mandarin fish, also known as the leopard mandarin fish, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, an Asian perch from the family Sinipercidae, which is native to eastern Asia. This species can reach at least 33.4 cm (1.1 ft) in standard length and 607.3 g (1.34 lb) in weight. It is typically yellowish-brown with blackish-brown speckles ("leopard"), but there are also bright yellow ("golden") individuals, which are particularly prized in Korea and selectively bred in captivity.
The barbel steed is a species of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found throughout the Amur basin in eastern Asia to northern Vietnam, Japan and islands of Hainan and Taiwan.
The Chinese rice fish is a species of fish in the genus Oryzias. This freshwater fish occurs in swamps, stagnant parts of streams, rice fields and marshes, and is up to 3.1 cm (1.2 in) long. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Japanese rice fish. The natural range of the Chinese rice fish is in East and Southeast Asia, including the Yangtze, Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween, Red River and Nanpangjiang basins. It has been introduced to Kazakhstan and Russia ; also spreading in the Azov basin and has been discovered in the Obytichna River in Ukraine.
Macropodus is a genus of small to medium-sized labyrinth fish native to freshwater habitats in eastern Asia. Most species are restricted to southern China and Vietnam, but M. opercularis occurs as far north as the Yangtze basin, and M. ocellatus occurs north to the Amur River, as well as in Japan and Korea. In China, they are often used for fights, so they are named Chinese bettas because of their similarity to the genus Betta. A few species in the genus are regularly seen in the aquarium trade, and M. opercularis has been introduced to regions far outside its native range.
